News - Local
Oil Spill Impact on Louisiana Wildlife
Posted: Apr 29, 2010 7:44 PM by Melissa Hawkes
Source: KATC
Updated: Apr 29, 2010 7:44 PM
There's no stopping the 210,000 gallons of oil approaching the Louisiana coast.
Barbara Benson, an environmental science professor at the University of Louisiana, said "it may and probably will be the biggest spill in the history of the United States."
There are only hours left until the oil hits land and environmentalists are becoming concerned.
Benson said, "with this amount of release it's really going to be overwhelming on the system."
Paul Klerks, a biology professor at the University of Louisiana, said "it could potentially be a huge loss to our ecosystems. There are some really nice ecosystems in those areas which could be really affected by the oil spill."
Governor Bobby Jindal says at least ten wildlife management areas in Louisiana and Mississippi are in the oil's path. Klerks said the first place it will effect is the wildlife and refuge areas.
Klerks said, "There are birds breeding on the islands and those will be affected if the oil gets there."
The oil is expected to have long term effects on birds and other wildlife that live on the coast.
"There's two effects on wildlife, it can be ingested and act as a poison or it can attach to them and coat them on the outside," he said.
British Petroleum tested burning the oil on Wednesday, after a successful test run; they're going to try it on a larger scale. People in Acadiana may see some of the aftermath.
Benson said, "We could possibly see some emissions reaching up this far."
Klerks added,” actually the burning will be the lesser of two evils, it'll be much better than the oil getting into the marshes."
The only thing to do now is to wait for the oil spill to hit land. When it hits the Louisiana coastline, wildlife experts will have a better idea of the amount of damage the spill will have on our ecosystem.
KATC.com is Social!
KATC Videos
Comments